Chert Nucleus and Cortex Characterization for Archaeological Provenance Study Tested in the Prebaetic System Region (Valencian Community, Spain)

ABSTRACT

The characterization of chert artifacts and the identification of their raw material is a pivotal issue in archaeology for the comprehension of economic and territorial patterns related to prehistoric populations. In the last years, several analytical techniques have been employed to characterize chert and discriminate among different provenances. In this study, cherts collected from different outcrops exploited since the Prehistory in the area of Alcoi (Alacant, Spain) were analyzed. Nucleus and cortex of each sample were divided and separately analyzed to determine their concentrations of major, minor and trace elements. The analyses revealed the elemental difference between both the parts of the chert and pointed out the importance of separation during sample preparation. Eventually, only the results of the nucleus analysis allowed discriminate among the different outcrops.

KEYWORDS:

• Prehistory
• weathering
• chert analysis
• raw materials
• REE

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mirco Ramacciotti graduated in Archaeology at the University of Pisa (Italy) and is currently a PhD student at the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Valencia, where he works with the ArchaeChemis research unit (https://www.uv.es/archaechemis) on archaeological lithic and lithoid materials through spectroscopy and spectrometry techniques. His thesis is focused on the study of archaeological lithic artifacts employing archaeometric methods.

Gianni Gallello has completed his PhD at the University of Valencia (Spain) where he founded ArchaeChemis (2014) and he is head of the group. He was granted by the European Commission with a Marie Curie individual fellowship (MATRIX project), hosted by the University of York (Department of Archaeology and Department of Environment and Geography). In the last few years, his research activity has been focused on the chemical analysis of a wide range of archaeological materials such as sediments, human remains, stones, mortars, ceramics, etc. He has developed new methodological proposals through the employment of novel sampling strategies, Rare Earth Elements, major and trace element analysis and multivariate statistics.

Agustín Pastor has been Full Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Valencia since 2007. During his career, he has dealt with the development of analytical methods such as chromatography and spectrometry and he has managed several projects in the field of analytical chemistry. He has been also the head of ArchaeChemis research unit since 2014.

Agustín Diez Castillo got a PhD in History at the University of Cantabria in 1996 with a dissertation about the prehistoric peopling in the western valleys of Cantabria. He moved to Berkley (California) for four years, thanks to a scholarship of the Fundación Marcelino Botín, where he worked at the Department of Anthropology and at the Archaeological Research Facility with prof. Margaret Conkey. He came to the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Valencia in 2000, thanks to the Reincorporation Program for Doctors and Technologists Abroad. His main research lines are landscape archaeology, cultural contacts between last hunters-gatherers communities and first farmers in the Cantabrian area as well as in the Mediterranean one and the employment of new technologies in cultural heritage study, such as the development of the Archaeological Information System SIDGEIPA.

Oreto García Puchol got her PhD in History from the University of Valencia in 2002. From 2010 to 2015 she was a “Ramon y Cajal” researcher at the Department of Prehistory, Archaeology and Ancient History (University of Valencia), where she is currently a PhD researcher integrated in the PREMEDOC Research Group. She specializes in socioecological dynamics during the recent Prehistory in the Western Mediterranean. Her research interests include the Mesolithic, Neolithic transition, cultural transmission, lithic technology, the emergence of social hierarchies, Mesolithic and Neolithic funerary practices and 3D Archaeology. She has directed archaeological fieldworks in the Mediterranean basin of Iberia, including sites like Falguera Rock Shelter, Pastora Cave and Cocina Cave. Currently, she heads the EVOLPAST Research Project funded by the Government of Spain.

ORCID

Mirco Ramacciotti http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8937-3134

Gianni Gallello http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3641-8815

Agustín Pastor http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9454-1999

Agustín Diez Castillo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9122-2941

Oreto García Puchol http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9716-6039

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Ministry of Economy Industry and Competitiveness of Spain “(EVOLPAST: Dinámicas evolutivas y patrones de variabilidad cultural de los últimos caza-recolectores y el primer neolítico en el este peninsular (circa 7000 – 4500 cal BC)” [grant number: HAR2015-68962]).